Whole Hog Hat Trick for Dallon Murty

By Josh Reynolds

STUART, Iowa (May 29, 2023) –The finale of the third annual Whole Hog 50 sponsored by VanEaton Pork ran Monday at Karl Chevrolet of Stuart International Speedway. Winners for the night were Kolby Sabin, Dallon Murty, Calvin Dhondt and Mitchell Morris.

Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts kicked off the features and it was Anthony Clark leading through lap five. Sabin found a quicker line to take over the next time around and he cruised to the win. Clark finished second with Elijah Hoyt third, Terry Bickford fourth and Zander Steiner fifth.

The next race would be the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars and the third running of the Whole Hog 50. A three-wide start and 32 hungry racers set the stage for an exciting 50-lap race, and as they took the green flag everyone in attendance was on their toes.

Michael Jaennette took charge early on with Austin Bouzek and Chanse Hollatz in close formation behind. Jaennette kept the lead until a yellow flew on lap seven, bringing Nick Roberts up to row two for the double file restart.

Roberts stayed patient in second until lap 12 and was able to pounce on Jaennette to grab the lead. The next few laps saw three, four and even five-wide racing behind the leader, and the beneficiary of it all was the ninth starting Murty as he worked his way to second place on lap 20.

Four laps later, Murty muscled his way into the lead and it was Roberts and Hollatz trying to stay in touch with the Game Changer. 

Lap 30 saw the second caution of the race, giving the field a chance to catch its breath. Murty stayed strong out front with Hollatz, Roberts and Jaennette giving chase. Damon Murty entered the top four on lap 33 but it was Dallon still out front and starting to put some distance on the field.

That distance closed to a bumper with the last yellow flag of the race coming out on lap 43. Once the green flag flew it would be Dallon Murty with a clean track in front of him as he was able to close the deal on his third consecutive Whole Hog 50 win and the $5,000 payday that came along with it.

Elijah Zevenbergen nipped Roberts at the line by five thousandths of a second as they finished 2-3 with Damon Murty and Hollatz rounding out the top five. Already guaranteed a starting spot in the upcoming B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational, Murty took home the big share of the prize money and an amazing trophy, too.

IMCA Hobby Stocks followed with Andrew Burg leading Skylar Pruitt and Tristan Grape in the early running. 

Dhondt went from fourth to first on lap six and held the lead until a yellow on lap nine. Once the green flew, Dhondt stayed out front but the winner from Sunday night, Grape, was lurking in the shadows. Grape would nose ahead on lap 13 and looked to go on to his second win in as many nights, but one last caution on lap 16 gave the field a chance.

Grape led lap 17, but Dhondt powered by on the bottom to reclaim the lead and go on to the win. Grape finished second with Adam Hensel third, Riley Christensen fourth and Solomon Bennett fifth.

Last up was the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods with Cam Reimers and Mitchell Morris on the front row. Reimers led early and often through a couple of cautions over Morris and 12^th starting Brayton Carter.

As the race wound down it looked like Reimers had it in hand on the top side of the track, but Morris quickly made up ground on the bottom and took the lead on lap 16.

Reimers and Carter duked it out for second but it was Morris right around the tires driving off to the win, his first at the track. Carter got by Reimers at the line for second with Chris Burke and Carter Vandenberg rounding out the top five.